ND Burma
ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.
Recent Posts
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- Myanmar children, monks among dozens killed in heavy airstrikes
- UN chief: Discussing humanitarian aid corridor from Bangladesh to Myanmar
- Rodrigo Roa Duterte makes first appearance before the ICC: confirmation of charges hearing scheduled for 23 September 2025
- Myanmar junta troops massacre 11 villagers, most too old to flee, residents say
Junta troops kill 9 unarmed civilians, including 4 teens, in war-torn Sagaing region
/in NewsThe group was detained while enroute to receive medical training in a nearby township.
Junta troops in Myanmar’s embattled Sagaing region captured and killed nine unarmed civilians, including four teenagers, as they traveled to receive medical training, according to an official from their group and a family member of one of the victims.
The nine medics with the Wetlet township branch of the Generation Z Special Task Force, an organization aligned with the anti-junta People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitary group, were detained by the military, and shot dead on Wednesday near Shwebo township’s Kunseik village while enroute to southeastern Sagaing’s Ayadaw township, some 60 kilometers (37 miles) away.
A spokesman for the Generation Z Special Task Force told RFA Burmese that those killed included four women: Pa Pa Khine, 14, Win Ei Kyaw, 15, Naing Naing Aung, 24, and Thit Thit Hlaing, 34; and five men: Pho Htaung, 17, Phone Kyaw, 17, Thein Than Oo, 21, Aung Kyaw Moe, 27, and Pho Nyein, 27.
The spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that his group confirmed the identities of the victims after obtaining photos of the slaughter.
“They didn’t have any weapons on them. They were going for medical training in an area where there was no fighting,” he said.
“We sent for them after notifying our allied groups as there were no military activities around here [and could safely return]. We have no idea how they got captured. We heard about some arrests [on Wednesday] and only [on Thursday], when we saw the photos, did we realize they were our team members.”
The mother of one victim said she was devastated by the news that her daughter and her friends were killed at such a young age.
“She wanted to do this, even though she was so young. She always said that she wanted to have a role she could play,” said the victim’s mother, who also declined to be named.
“Now that this has happened, I’m heartbroken. I’m so numb and I feel like I have nothing inside.”
The junta has yet to comment on the incident and calls by RFA to junta deputy information minister, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, went unanswered on Thursday.
The Generation Z Special Task Force said it will work to obtain justice for the families of the victims of the extrajudicial killings and to bring international attention to the incident with the help of Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government.
According to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, security forces have killed at least 2,053 civilians since the military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup, although the group acknowledges its records are incomplete and says the real number of deaths is likely much higher.
Last month, the Institute for Strategy and Policy (ISP), a local think tank, said in a report that it had documented at least 5,646 civilian deaths in Myanmar between the coup and May 10.
The ISP figure included people killed by security forces during anti-junta protests, in clashes between the military and pro-democracy paramilitaries or ethnic armies, while held in detention, and in revenge attacks, including against informers for the regime.
At least 1,831 civilians were killed in shooting deaths, the largest number of which occurred in Sagaing region, where junta troops have faced some of the toughest resistance to military rule in clashes with the PDF paramilitaries that have displaced tens of thousands of residents since the coup, the ISP report said.
Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
RFA News
OPEN LETTER TO AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER PENNY WONG FROM 688 CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS
/in Press Releases and StatementsThe Honorable Penny Wong
Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Parliament House,
Canberra ACT 2600
29 June 2022
Open letter to Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong from 688 civil society organisations
Re: Urgent change of course and action needed on Myanmar
Dear Minister Penny Wong,
We, the undersigned 688 Burma/Myanmar, regional and international civil society organisations, welcome your appointment as Foreign Minister and note the Australian Labor Party’s commitment to seek “strong and enduring relations with the people of Myanmar” when in government. We note your past comments that Australia “cannot be a bystander to a direct attack on Myanmar’s democracy” and your call for the Australian government “to take a stand” for democracy in Myanmar and to impose targeted sanctions. We acknowledge the Australian government’s commitment to appoint a Special Envoy for Southeast Asia and for increased aid to the region and to implement a ‘First Nations Foreign Policy’.
We are writing to urge you to hear our voices, as we struggle for a federal democratic Myanmar that upholds human rights for all and to protect Burma/Myanmar’s cultures, livelihoods and fragile ecosystems that are under dire threat by the illegitimate military junta.
Since the illegal coup attempt on February 1, 2021, the illegitimate junta has waged a terror campaign against the people of Myanmar, amid widespread and mass resistance. There have been more than 10,000 armed clashes, which include attacks on civilians through indiscriminate shellings and airstrikes, and over 2,000 people have been murdered by the junta. Around 440,000 people have been forcibly displaced since the coup attempt, as the junta carries out deliberate attacks, killing, torturing and raping, and destroying houses, villages and food supplies across the country. In Sagaing Region, the junta torched over 5,600 houses in February to April 2022 alone. The junta’s criminal conduct amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity, which it commits with total impunity.
The junta has devastated the economy, which has shrunk around 30%, causing widespread food insecurity. The junta has weaponized telecommunications, ordering internet shutdowns in large swaths of the country, blocked access to information through censorship and targeted the people for surveillance. Journalists have been targeted with murder, arrest and torture, as well as doxing campaigns and the dissemination of hate speech and disinformation.
ASEAN is complicit in the junta’s terror campaign. Since the attempted coup, ASEAN has continued to legitimize the junta and ignore the voices of the people. Its failed Five-Point Consensus was agreed with the illegitimate junta alone, which has ignored its own pledge to implement it. ASEAN has repeatedly invited the junta to meetings, events and military training, providing cover for ASEAN members and Australia to engage with war criminals, emboldening their crimes in Australia’s name. The ASEAN Special Envoy on Myanmar defers to the illegitimate military junta and has failed to engage with Myanmar’s legitimate government, the National Unity Government (NUG), the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), Ethnic Revolutionary Organizations (EROs) and civil society.
The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre), an intergovernmental humanitarian disaster management body supported with Australian taxpayer funds, does not have the capacity to handle humanitarian aid in a conflict setting where the perpetrator and the clear aggressor is the partner in delivering aid. It is rather exacerbating the crisis in Burma/Myanmar by allowing the military to weaponize humanitarian aid, offering tactical and political advantage while lending legitimacy to the military junta who is the main perpetrator of violence that is leading to mass displacement. Civil society strongly rejects the AHA Centre’s divide-and-rule approach of meeting with EROs individually, and failure to engage with NUG, NUCC and civil society.
The Morrison Government fell shamefully short to live up to Australia’s values of and commitment to democracy and human rights. Your predecessor failed to impose targeted sanctions, failed to join efforts for international accountability, failed to recognize the National Unity Government (NUG) as the legitimate government and NUCC as the highest consultative body of Burma/Myanmar, and continually legitimized the junta through bilateral and multilateral engagement, including with Min Aung Hlaing. Australia’s Future Fund has maintained investments in businesses that provide arms and revenue to the Myanmar military junta, profiting from Myanmar’s destruction.
We therefore earnestly appeal to you to change course:
For further information, please contact:
List of Signatories
List of signatories include the following 298 Myanmar, regional and international organisations and 390 Myanmar civil society organisations that have chosen not to disclose their names.
Signed by:
Download PDF in English I Burmese
Almost 100 Civilians Tortured to Death by Myanmar Regime Since Coup
/in NewsMyanmar’s military regime has tortured to death at least 95 people in interrogation centers and prisons since last year’s coup, said rights groups who called on the international community to help end the junta’s atrocities.
Among those tortured to death were National League for Democracy officials and members, student activists, young resistance fighters, peaceful protesters, striking civil servants, politicians and bystanders.
In a joint statement released on International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, 14 local rights groups including the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, Equality Myanmar, the Women’s League for Burma and the Ta’ang Civil Society Organization, stated that the junta has used horrific methods of torture on political detainees in order to terrorize opponents of military rule.
“It is now common practice for the military to torture, to extract information and enact revenge, before summarily executing with gunshots,” said the joint statement.
The statement added that it has documented evidence of torture through first-hand testimony that reveals the use of guns, clubs, knives and pliers on detainees by junta forces.
Mock executions and burials, forcing detainees to assume stress positions, deprivation of food and water for days, being forced to drink toilet water, beatings on genitals and threats of sexual assault and rape are among the forms of torture used by the regime.
In one instance, almost 30 residents of Mon Taing Pin Village in Sagaing Region were slaughtered by regime troops in May after being captured in a monastery. Their bodies were found blindfolded with their hands tied. The victims’ throats had been cut or they had been burned to death.
“We call attention to the historic use of torture by the military junta as a direct result of the impunity it enjoyed for decades. Hollow threats by international governments and regional blocs must end,” the 14 rights groups said in their statement.
They called on United Nations (UN) member states, as well as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to put much more political pressure on the junta.
International actors must refuse engagement, dialogue, or participation in activities which lend legitimacy to the regime, and implement a comprehensive global arms embargo, more targeted financial sanctions against military conglomerates and other pro-military business interests and support the work of accountability mechanisms, such as the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Burma (IIMM), added the rights groups.
The groups also called on the UN Security Council to refer cases of torture to the International Criminal Court, to end the physical and mental torture of political prisoners.
Irrawaddy News
Almost 100 Civilians Tortured to Death by Myanmar Regime Since Coup
/in NewsMyanmar’s military regime has tortured to death at least 95 people in interrogation centers and prisons since last year’s coup, said rights groups who called on the international community to help end the junta’s atrocities.
Among those tortured to death were National League for Democracy officials and members, student activists, young resistance fighters, peaceful protesters, striking civil servants, politicians and bystanders.
In a joint statement released on International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, 14 local rights groups including the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, Equality Myanmar, the Women’s League for Burma and the Ta’ang Civil Society Organization, stated that the junta has used horrific methods of torture on political detainees in order to terrorize opponents of military rule.
“It is now common practice for the military to torture, to extract information and enact revenge, before summarily executing with gunshots,” said the joint statement.
The statement added that it has documented evidence of torture through first-hand testimony that reveals the use of guns, clubs, knives and pliers on detainees by junta forces.
Mock executions and burials, forcing detainees to assume stress positions, deprivation of food and water for days, being forced to drink toilet water, beatings on genitals and threats of sexual assault and rape are among the forms of torture used by the regime.
In one instance, almost 30 residents of Mon Taing Pin Village in Sagaing Region were slaughtered by regime troops in May after being captured in a monastery. Their bodies were found blindfolded with their hands tied. The victims’ throats had been cut or they had been burned to death.
“We call attention to the historic use of torture by the military junta as a direct result of the impunity it enjoyed for decades. Hollow threats by international governments and regional blocs must end,” the 14 rights groups said in their statement.
They called on United Nations (UN) member states, as well as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to put much more political pressure on the junta.
International actors must refuse engagement, dialogue, or participation in activities which lend legitimacy to the regime, and implement a comprehensive global arms embargo, more targeted financial sanctions against military conglomerates and other pro-military business interests and support the work of accountability mechanisms, such as the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Burma (IIMM), added the rights groups.
The groups also called on the UN Security Council to refer cases of torture to the International Criminal Court, to end the physical and mental torture of political prisoners.
Irrawaddy News
Weekly Update 20 jun – 26 Jun 2022
/in HR Situation#ASEAN has failed the people of #Myanmar – again. ASEAN has had multiple opportunities to lead with integrity and discipline while responding to the multiple crises in Myanmar. Instead, they have turned their backs on principles of democracy and made excuses for the authoritarian tyrants who single-handedly derailed prospects for peace in the country.
Married couple tied up and shot by Myanmar forces in Tanintharyi region
/in NewsLocals say a local pro-junta militia was also involved in the killings in Dawei district.
Two people in their sixties were tied up and shot dead at close range by junta forces and their allies at a village in Myanmar’s southwestern Tanintharyi region on Sunday as revenge attacks by troops and their militia allies increase.
Around 15 troops, and militia members from a nearby village entered Kadakgyi village in Launglon township, Dawei district, according to an official from the Democracy Movement Strike Committee (DMSC), Dawei district. The official identified the married couple as Thaung Win and Win Aye (nicknamed Mi Kyone). He said militia members from Pande village took part in the killings.
“They came into the village and cuffed the couple’s hands behind their backs. The couple were shot dead in the street. I could not see any badges, but there were military intelligence and military-affiliated Pyu Saw Htee members,” the official said.
The two villagers were shot in their heads, eyes, stomachs and backs, the official told RFA, adding that the bodies had been taken to a morgue.
The couple had been involved in the anti-regime movement and supported young protesters, the official said.Junta forces and their militia allies looted houses after the killings. CREDIT: Democracy Movement Strike Committee, Dawei district.
Local residents said the junta forces raided five houses in Kadakgyi village and took money and valuables after killing the couple. They say the troops and militia destroyed homes and belongings that were not claimed by villagers.
The military council has not released a statement about the incident and calls to a military council spokesman by RFA went unanswered on Monday.
The DMSC statement said six civilians had been shot dead and two injured by junta forces and Pyu Saw Htee groups between June 16 and 26.
There has been a rise in attacks involving pro-junta militia in Tanintharyi recently.
The Soon Ye (Kite Force) militia is thought to be behind the shooting deaths of three villagers in Launglon township on April 28 and another killing on the road between Dawei and Launglon on May 3.
The day before the second killing, the militia wrote on Facebook that it had the addresses of anti-coup protesters and would harm their families if they did not stop their activities.
At least 2,021 people have been killed in Myanmar since the coup on February 1, 2021 to June 24 this year, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). Figures gathered by Data for Myanmar between February 1, 2021 and April 28, 2022 show that 27 people had been killed in Taninthary, the sixth highest level of 15 regions.
RFA News